After all these years, i'm still not sure

Paid

As a young Maori male here in NZ, i'm still not sure about this movie... it is everything people on this board have said it is... but having bought it and watched again recently, i'm still unsure as too how i feel as a Maori.

I saw this movie at the auckland premiere... actually, let me start ealier then that. Where i grew up i was one of very few Maori in the area... i remember being 7 years old in primary school when i noticed there were only two other "brown" kids in the whole school (and one of them was my brother)... so all my friends we're pakeha (white.european)

having said that... i was always raised as a maori, complete with language, history, culture and i sense of where i belong in the world... not society, but the world (i belong anywhere i choose in society, but i'm such i small piece of the world... a valuable piece)

anyway... i went to opening night with a group of people who's contact with Maori was what they saw on the news or what they read in the paper (most of it negative)... they had little idea of the fact the fact that i am very proud to be a maori and that being Maori is a large part of who i am... they left the movie with a new view on Maori life... they tried to be so understanding, and so supportive of what Maori people must go thru... it made me sick

i remember being mad when i watched this movie... for the simple reason that the movie only portrayed two types of maori. neither of them in a particularly positive light. It annoyed me, because i knew that this movie wouldn't do anything to dispel the stereotype surrounding modern maori. especially the urban Maori... sure the movie portrayed a very small part of the Maori community accurately... but it is such a small part of that community. This is a stereotype that young maori men have been trying to shake for years, and now it is being put in the spotlight in a movie that was sure to be seen worldwide.

I was willing to forgive and forget with this movie and move and appreciate it for what it is... a great movie but after reading posts on this board and others... i'm not sure... i will put this movie high on a shell somewhere... i might look at it from time to time, but i don't think i'll watch again for a while. i see people are still confused about the Maori people... and this film isn't helping.

i would be happier if the emphasis on the "Maori" aspect of the movie wasn't so prevalent. as posted here... this could be anywhere, anyone, anytime... please don't think you know Maori issues because you have see a movie about a small minority... we fight a battle of racism, stereotype and discrimination every day... and when maori life is highlighted like this in media or a brown face does something wrong on the news we lose a small amount of ground in that fight.

this is a people problem... not a maori people problem maybe we Once Were Warriors... but we are still proud, beautiful and full of mana... actually, i'm still a warrior, the battle has changed.

i think of that night at the movies and am glad i never see those people... the discussing they had on way home still amazes me... " i know a maori, and it's just like that... he comes to school bleeding all the time and he never has any lunch"

no... you don't know a Maori... and he's sitting right next to you.

score /10

Paid 7 August 2002

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw0345062/